Cable way extraction Loch Eck — 1948
Photographs are courtesy of Colin Lawson son of Wilf Lawson who was a forester who trained at Benmore Forester Training School in the years 1948-1950.
The photograph appears to show a wire cable set up to extract thinned logs by gravity to a lower landing area. The older man could be one of the Benmore Forest (Nr Dunoon)regular forest worker staff here being assisted by two students to lift the load of poles onto the wire pulleys. In these situations I believe the trees were felled and then after snedding hauled by hand to the wire rope way rack. Occasionally a horse could be used if there were flatter areas at the top of the rackway.
The cable extraction system is interesting in that there is a similar diameter cable running up the rackway beside the main load carrying cable. Not sure of the reason for this but perhaps it may be a very large diameter haul back rope.
A small diameter cable can just be seen running to the right below the load back past the right hand side worker’s knee. No sign can be seen of it passing again down the rack but assume this must be part of the haul back system to allow the empty pulleys to be returned to the loading site and also crucially to control the descent of the load. The thin cable may be attached to the thicker cable.
The PDF shows other views of the operation but unfortunately the cable system is not any clearer.
Any views or descriptions from the experience of using this tackle would be welcomed.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Groups of people, Timber harvesters, processors, forwarders and cable cranes